


Sticking With You

by Multishipperlove



Series: Tumblr Prompts [10]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Background Beau/Jester Pining, Empire Siblings - Freeform, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24777574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multishipperlove/pseuds/Multishipperlove
Summary: Beau cares. And she's often more attentive than people give her credit for.
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett & Caleb Widogast
Series: Tumblr Prompts [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623151
Comments: 4
Kudos: 103





	Sticking With You

**Author's Note:**

> Original Prompt:  
> Grumpy prompts: #5 for Empire Sibs

“Listen, I enjoy this hug and all, but can you stop?”

Quiet but firm, the words immediately made Beau pull back again, the joy from the just-won fight quickly evaporating as she saw Caleb’s sour expression. But before she could really reply anything, either to apologise or ask what was wrong, she was nearly swept off her feet by a very enthusiastic blue tiefling and carried right back into the midst of the group.

Beau couldn’t help it, Jester’s radiance was infectious, and by the time the cleric had healed the small wound over her left eye (was it really possible for fingers to be this soft? so warm and caring?!), she had almost forgotten about Caleb’s rejection again. The general chaos that followed any altercation didn’t help, and she barely noticed that their wizard friend kept almost exclusively to himself, far into the evening.

Maybe it was because his behaviour wasn’t actually noticeable. Looking back, Beau figured someone should have payed attention sooner with the way their group had grown in the last few months, but Caleb being quiet wasn’t anything newsworthy. If anything, they chalked it up to him maybe falling back into old habits.

So no, it wasn’t until the evening that she tried to talk to him again, once she’d realised that they had somehow ended up as the only ones still awake and ghosting around the Xhorhouse, and Caleb still seemed weirdly… quiet. Usually if they both bumped into each other in the kitchen late at night he would at least mumble a greeting, even if he had his nose buried in a book or was busy trying to feed Frumpkin treats that the fey being didn’t want in the first place.  
  
This time though, as she stepped into the shared cooking space and saw Caleb hunched over at the table, he didn’t say anything. And finally, she remembered his reaction after the fight again. Granted, words weren’t always her strong suit, but it seemed obvious to Beau _someone_ needed to talk to him, and everyone else was asleep.

Grabbing a bowl of leftovers from dinner and rummaging around the cupboards until she found another one with the berries he liked so much (which were technically for breakfast, but surely Cad would understand that this was an emergency) she plopped down across from him at the table, pushing the food a bit closer to him. “You look like shit.”  
  
Caleb frowned, but had the decency to finally acknowledge her as he sat up straight again. “You’re one to talk,” he muttered, taking the peace offering though and picking up a handful of the berries. “What do you want?”  
  
Beau shrugged, trying to keep the whole conversation as nonchalant as possible. “Dunno, can’t I check on my friends?” Before Caleb could answer she waved it off, knowing if she let him he’d just question her friendship first in general. By being rude, at least all he could do was huff and then give a fond shake of his head before she was able to keep talking. “You were acting weird this morning, you know the whole- “ there’s another wavey hand gesture from her, “-touch thing.”

“Right,” Caleb muttered, his expression almost, _almost_ , turning amused. “The touch thing.”  
  
“Yeah. Come on, Caleb, you know what I’m talking about,” she huffed, not caring anymore about showing at least a little bit of her annoyance. “You haven’t blown me off like that in ages. And it’s not like there was any fire involved in the fight, so what gives?”

There was silence at first, Caleb just glaring at her for a moment or two before he gave a long suffering sigh. “No, it wasn’t fire this time,” he admitted, his voice a little more subdued.  
  
Which didn’t do anything to make Beau worry _less_ , and when he didn’t offer up any more information by himself she resisted the urge to nudge him with her foot until he did. Touch had already freaked him out once, she didn’t need a repeat of that today. “Then what was it?” she asked instead, willing to poke and prod a little at least with her words.  
  
It took another pause before Caleb answered, but with the way he was ringing for words she waited it out. “I- I’m not sure,” he admitted, finally meeting her eyes as well. There was fear, shining through rather clearly amidst some mixed in doubt. “I honestly don’t know what triggered it. I saw that thing go down, and… and suddenly I wasn’t there anymore. I was back at the cathedral, I- I was back at the docks where we stole the ball eater, and back on the ship with Avantika’s crew, and back in the fight were we lost Caduceus that one time. Everything- it all came crushing down at once.”  
  
“And when I hugged you it ripped you out of that, but you were still freaked out?” she asked, though it was more an observation than an actual question.  
  
He nodded slowly. “And since I don’t know what caused it, I cannot try to avoid it in the next battle, either. Which means I might just have to come to terms with being a liability after every fight now, not only after throwing the occasional fire ball. That’s not good, Beauregard.”  
  
“Well, no,” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “But it doesn’t make you a liability either, Caleb. It’s always worked before, and I’m honestly more concerned what it means for you than for the rest of us.”  
  
“Can’t say I’m surprised I’m finally loosing it,” he muttered, turning his gaze to the table again as his expression turned angry. “What if it comes to a point where I don’t even make it to the end of a fight? What if something comes for you, or Nott, or anyone in this group and I just stand there because all I can hear is the mocking laughter of the Hand?”  
  
“Then we do our best to protect you, like we do with everyone who goes down in the middle of this shit.” To Beau, there wasn’t much difference between this and being stunned or petrified in the middle of a fight, and they’d dealt with both. Not ideal, but nothing they couldn’t handle either. “But I already told you, that’s not what I’m worried about. I think you need to- I don’t know, talk to someone about this? There are people who can help with this sort of thing, I think.”  
  
“And if that doesn’t work, either?”  
  
“Then we set you up in your own little cushy wizard tower and you can annoy us from there,” she replied, rolling her eyes at him. “Seriously, Caleb.”  
  
He still looked a little doubtful, but finally nodded with another sigh. “I guess it’s not the worst idea. But it could take a while until I find something. Or someone.”  
  
“Sure, and until then I’m perfectly happy with taking you on a walk after every battle,” she assured him, trying to lighten the mood a little again now that the serious part of the conversation seemed mostly over. “Maybe I can help you learn to meditate a bit as well, you know, shit like that. Stillness of mind or something. It takes _forever_ to learn but trust me, _so_ worth it.”

The slight exaggeration in tone got a chuckle out of him at least, and she took that as a sign that it was okay to get up again and consider the topic done for now. Dropping both of their empty dishes in the sink she still nudged him on her way up though. “Let’s both try and get some sleep, before we’re completely useless tomorrow,” she muttered, giving him a gentle shove in the direction of the stairs. Caleb agreed easily enough, and before she could part from him and make her way to her and Jester’s room, he did pull her into another hug. This time, neither of them pulled away for a while.


End file.
